WHO, US? WELL, YES. AND WE SWELL A BIT WITH PRIDE
whenever the strains of that anthem from the late, and much
lamented, Freddie Mercury and Queen drift in on the iPod or
XM/Sirius.
It is no longer very arguable. Supply chain management has
usurped operations and/or manufacturing as the driving force
behind corporate performance, financial success, and shareholder delight. A few cling to last-century paradigms, but an
enlightened C-suite is making what our profession does: 1) a
strategic differentiator, and 2) the magic that
transforms vision to operational reality.
It is a very good time to be in supply chain
management, and the future looks to be even
brighter, in terms of organizational performance and individual opportunities.
WHO ARE THE CHAMPIONS?
Champions abound in our field. Some are
people—the movers, the shakers, the thought
leaders, the visionaries, and the talent scouts
who create legions of superbly competent
and highly motivated followers. They are
(and have been) dispersed throughout our universe, to the
benefit of their employers and the next generation of champions that they are nurturing. They were and are the academic
pioneers and practitioners who virtually invented the profession—the Andraskis, the Bowersoxes, the LaLondes. They
are the next generation, who lead powerful assemblages of
supply talent and are busy creating more followers, those who
build legends in the industry at places such as Kraft, L Brands,
Johnson & Johnson, Apple, Coca-Cola, Tesco, and others, too
many to be listed.
Some are the corporations, including those already mentioned, who lead the field in the collection of sundry annual
listings of the however-many best supply chains.
WHAT DEFINES A CHAMPION?
Sticking with the corporate theme, the champions are, firstly,
winners. They set the bar high in anyone’s assessment of leaders and laggards, to use the popular but awkward consulting
pet terms. Their costs are typically low, their service levels typ-
BY ART VAN BODEGRAVEN AND
KENNETH B. ACKERMAN basictraining
We are the champions!
ically high; their asset leverage is powerful;
and their companies’ overall performance
tends to lead the pack.
But “winning” is an event, a transient
experience. What really counts is winning
repeatedly over the long haul. Those annual
lists of the “best” always seem to include a
new name or two. Some pop up once, then
disappear. Others stay, eventually supplanting many—if not most—of
the names from the original
list.
Winning once does
not define a champion.
Winning several times, then
fading into obscurity, does
not define a champion.
Taking the noble science
of pugilism as a metaphor,
we expect a boxing champion to lose a little power
over time and no longer be
a champion. We expect, and should, that
organizations can renew themselves and stay
fresh and strong, if not forever, at least for
some generations.
THE DIFFICULTY OF WINNING
Anyone, or any organization, with championship aspirations tends to concentrate
on winning now, winning the next battle,
being the best this year, as if a snapshot of
the driver who has won the Indianapolis 500
pouring milk all over his hat defines him
(sorry, Danica) for all time.
The fact is that, while trying to win every
time out and leaving it all on the field of
combat is a minimum requirement, winning
it all, all the time, is extraordinarily challenging. And genuine champions have learned to
live with that reality, even though the effort
